Fantastic Four Vol 1 277
As they finish their conversation with General Locklin, She-Hulk enters the room with all her bags packed. This comes to a shock to Johnny and Alicia who insist that She-Hulk should stay on the team even if Ben is back. However Ben tells them that they are getting ahead of themselves... he's not coming back to the Fantastic Four, in fact, he quits. Belle Porte Following strange emanations of evil, the Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange is drawn to the town of Belle Porte, Connecticut. Landing in the town, he disguises himself in street clothes and offers his aid as a physician to the police on the scene of the Benjamin house. The officer allows Strange to examine the bodies, who Strange recognizes them -- Reed and Sue Richards and their son Franklin, as well as occult expert Elspeth Cromwell. What happens becomes clear when local snoop Alma Chalmers comes onto the scene ranting about how the "Benjamin" family were secretly a coven of witches and how she hired Cromwell to exorcise them from the neighborhood. At that very moment in the neither realm of Mephisto, the demon tortures the Invisible Girl's spirit in a vice-like device. Reed, trapped in rock, calls the demon a monster. When Mephisto explains that he is the embodiment of evil, Reed still defies him. As punishment, the lord of lies painfully stretches Mister Fantastic's body. When Sue begs the demon to leave her husband alone, Mephisto decides to return his attention to her so that he can prolong the mutual suffering. He then impales Sue on a stalagmite, before boasting how his rise to power will allow him to consume the entire world. Mephisto's rant is interrupted by the sudden arrival of Doctor Stranges who engages Mephisto in mystical combat. Knocked aside, Strange spies the form of Franklin Richards, trapped within a crystal fast asleep. When Mephisto orders the Sorcerer Supreme away from the boy's inert body, Strange realizes that Mephisto must be using the boy in some way. Hearing this, Reed wonders if perhaps his son's mutant powers are returning and yells to Doctor Strange, telling him to free his son. Complying, Strange uses his magical powers to shatter the crystal keeping Franklin prisoner. As Franklin wakes up, Mephisto approaches the boy, threatening to torture his soul for all eternity. Made angry by this threat, Franklin's powers charge up and he fires an energy blast from his eyes that seriously harm Mephisto. The lord of lies quickly realizes that he is growing weaker, and when Franklin unleashes his powers upon him again, he is seemingly obliterated. Back on Earth, Alma is still going on about how the Benjamin family are witches when Doctor Strange reappears and tells both her and the officer that they are actually members of the Fantastic Four. At that moment, Reed, Sue and Franklin awaken -- their souls returned to their bodies and they are happily reunited. When Reed notices that Elspeth has not awoken, Strange explains that she is dead. When Alma asks Strange to bring her back to life, he explains to the elderly gossip that it is beyond his power to do so, in using her powers to try and destroy evil, it cost Cromwell her own life. As Chalmers breaks down in tears, Strange tells her not to forget what has transpired this night. | Writer1_1 = John Byrne | Penciler1_1 = John Byrne | Inker1_1 = Jerry Ordway | Colourist1_1 = Glynis Wein | Letterer1_1 = John Workman | Editor1_1 = Michael Carlin | Appearing1 = Featured Characters: * ** ** ** ** Supporting Characters: * * * * * Antagonists: * * * Other Characters: * * * * * * Locations: * ** *** **** ***** ****** ****** ****** *** **** * Items: * * * * Spells ** ** Vehicles: * | Notes = Continuity Notes New York * Thing returns to Earth in this issue after a long stint on Battleworld. Ben was kidnapped by the Beyonder along with other heroes and villains to battle it out in the Secret Wars in . In he discovered he could change back and forth between his human and Thing form. By of that series he decided to stay behind and explore. Ben's adventures were documented from - . Ben abandoned Battleworld when he discovered that the beings he encountered there were merely constructs of his own mind, he lost his ability to transform at will as a result. * Ben is carrying the deactivated head of Ultron. Ultron's body was destroyed in . His head was recovered by Ben in . Following this story Ultron's head is recovered and it begins to rebuild itself in . * Ben is seeking out Alicia Masters who he had been consistently dating since . However during the events of - he came to re-evaluate his relationship and decided to end it. * Johnny and "Alicia" have began dating in . * However this is not the real Alicia Masters, but a Skrull spy named Lyja, who replaced Alicia to spy on the Fantastic Four as revealed in . The switch happened during the events of . Upon learning that the Thing had left the group, she began pursuing a romance with Johnny to maintain Alicia's ties to the Fantastic Four. * The Dire Wraith attack on Earth is chronicled and resolved in - when the Spaceknight Rom rallied Earth's governments and super-heroes to band together and stop the Wraith invasion of Earth. * Johnny likens the damage to New York with the time Ego the Living Planet attacked Earth, as seen in . * The Fantastic Four and their supporting cast, including the Thing are all seen next in when Ben officially quits the Fantastic Four. He remains estranged from the team until . Belle Porte * Doctor Stranges' claims that he is a doctor is no deception, prior to becoming a mystic he was a renown surgeon as told in his origin from . * Franklin's mutant powers have fluctuated since they were first hinted at in . Most recently, he made his powers dormant in order to prevent his body from burning out as seen in . Franklin's powers began resurfacing . * Although seemingly killed, Mephisto's body was actually shattered into soul fragments. He mostly reforms himself in when he empowered Master Pandemonium to collect them on his behalf. Pandemonium succeeds in his task in . * Following his appearance here, Doctor Strange next appears in - when he battles his foe Xandu with the help of the Thing. | Trivia = | Recommended = * Rom #65 * | Links = }}